When A Train Went Over The Embankment Near Watsontown, 1871

The Brick yard looking north towards Watsontown.  Here a train can be seen at the top of the photo, approaching the railroad station in town.

On February 23rd 1871, an axel broke on a Philadelphia and Erie Train went over the embankment below Watsontown.  One passenger was killed, seventeen were injured.  [One of the 17 injured asked not to have his name listed in the paper.]  Original reports were that an axel had broken on the train.  It definitely had broken, it had just been repaired at the Montandon stop, and it broke again at Watsontown - but later reports blamed the accident on a broken track at the location.  The coroners jury censured the railroad for not keeping "s employees sufficient on the road to discover breakage"
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"As the passenger train reached the high embankment at Huff's brickyard, about half a mile this side [south] of Watsontown..  one of the axles broke and threw three of the passenger coaches down the embankment on the east side"

One passenger was killed, 17 were injured.

The train had been delayed, stopping about a mile above Montandon when some part of the gearing of the engine broke.  The engineer succeeded in making repairs, enabling the train to reach Milton.  There the decision was made to push on to Williamsport.

Just after crossing the Warrior Run, where there is an embankment about forty feet high, owing to a broken rail the 5th passenger coach was thrown from the track, breaking loose from the fourth"

This part of the track had been re-laid with new rails the previous summer, and had appeared to be in good condition.  

The train tracks ran beside the Watsontown brick  works- note the "high embankment" on the left, just south of the brick yard.

"There are several reports as to the cause of the accident, but we believe the broken axle to have been the real cause.  The engine is reported to have been out of repair only working on one side, but as it remained on the  track, as well as the baggage care and first passenger coach, it would seem that the injury to the engine had nothing to do with the accident" - The Miltonian.

At the coroners inquest, it was however decided that the accident was caused by a broken rail.  "The trail having been broken near the point of  connection by a train going eastward just previous to the accident, and the night watchman not having sufficient time to examine that part of the road before the Erie mail train passing westward.  The jury censure the Railroad company for not keeping employees sufficient on the road to discover breakages"

Adam Frymire, "a one armed man", had been going to Williamsport "in the company of  his brother in law Thomas Statteson".  He was thrown from the car as it went over the embankment, and his neck was broken.  His brother in law, who had been sitting beside him, was uninjured in the crash.

The first car to go over the track was broken into fragments, and another was badly damaged.  The sleeper car landed on its side.  "The rear car, strange as it may seem, remained on the track".

"The sleeping car caught fire immediately and would have burned up in a few minutes but for a colored man who went to work and extinguished it, burning his clothes badly"

Mr Hyman Slate made a "very narrow escape".  He had been standing by the stove in the sleeping car when it went over the embankment.  Hot coals were thrown over him, burning his hat slightly.  "Then came the water from the cooler which also fell over him - yet he escaped without any serious injury."

Mr E.A. Owens, his wife, and two children, from Jamestown NY were also in the sleeping car that went over.  All escaped with little to no injury.

A special train from Williamsport was sent down with physicians to look after the wounded.  The most seriously injured were left at Watsontown, while those with minor injuries were taken to the Herdic House in Williamport for care.

Those Injured:
Jesse Vincent, Baltimore
Ellis Heyman, Conductor
Horace Boyer, Milton
William Yount, Milton
Hon Horace Bemis, Hornellsville New York
Gentleman from Buffalo "At his request, name withheld"
Charles A. Cowell, Newark N.J.
Philip Blazer [Blazy?], Rochester
Jas. Heywood, Northbirdge Mass "One of the proprieters of Heywood Chiriski's European Combination tableaux, announced to exhibit here this evening"
Olmstead Warner, Jamestown N.Y. 
Wm. Shaw, Montreal
P.A. Boyer, White Deer Valley
Walter Crockett, Baltimore, conductor on sleeping car
Edwin M. Lemon, Warsaw N.Y.
Benjamin Wicks, Havana
Simon Peck, Selinsgrove
Wm. Curly, Baltimore
Dennis Cogan, Buffalo Ny
Lucius Smith, Northridge Mass "belongs to Heywoods party"
C.A. Terry, Canton
J. M. Martz, Hollidaysburg
Andrew Jennings, Jamestown NY
Wm K. Patterson, Easton
William Collins, Fredericksburg VA

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